BlackBerry has agreed to a $4.7 billion sale to a group led by its largest shareholder, Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., after new smartphones failed to turn the company around.

BlackBerry Ltd. said Monday that a letter of intent has been signed and that its shareholders will receive $9 in cash for each share. The deal comes just days after the Canadian company announced plans to lay off 40 percent of its global workforce.

The BlackBerry, pioneered in 1999, was once the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people and other consumers. It could be so addictive that it was nicknamed "the CrackBerry." President Barack Obama couldn't bear to part with his BlackBerry. Oprah Winfrey declared it one of her "favorite things."

But then came a new generation of competing smartphones, starting with Apple's iPhone in 2007. The BlackBerry, that game-changing breakthrough in personal connectedness, looked ancient suddenly.

Although BlackBerry was once Canada's most valuable company with a market value of $83 billion in June 2008, the stock has plummeted from more than $140 a share to less than $9, giving it a market value of $4.6 billion, just short of Fairfax's offer.

Fairfax head Prem Watsa, who owns 10 percent of BlackBerry, stepped down as a board member because of potential conflicts when BlackBerry announced it was considering a sale last month. The company would no longer be traded publicly once the sale goes through.

"We believe this transaction will open an exciting new private chapter for BlackBerry its customers, carriers and employees," Watsa said in a statement. "We can deliver immediate value to shareholders, while we continue the execution of a long-term strategy in a private company."

沪江商务英语快讯：黑莓公司近日发布公告称，已经和以Fairfax Financial为首的联合体签订收购意向书，后者出价为每股9美元，略高于黑莓现在的股价(8.2美元)，总价为47亿美元，从此黑莓将走向私有化。

作为加拿大最知名的品牌，黑莓曾是全球智能手机的霸主，用黑莓手机为身份象征，就连美国总统奥巴马、脱口秀女王奥普拉都曾为黑莓“背书”。如今，黑莓继摩托罗拉“委身”谷歌、诺基亚“联姻”微软之后，也走上了“卖身”的道路。希望这些曾经的手机巨头被收购后能重整旗鼓，让智能手机市场重新回到百花齐放的美好时代。